Mid Ulster MLA raises singing of pro-IRA with Sky

Mid Ulster DUP MLA Keith Buchanan has written to Sky asking what steps they are going to take after the Republic of Ireland’s Women’s football team celebrated qualifying for the World Cup by singing a pro-IRA song.
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He said in a statement: “Following the disgusting behaviour of the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team, I have written to Sky to ask if their company is in support of the team’s actions and if the company accepts that the IRA campaign, which killed and injured thousands across these islands, was justifiable and the glorification of this by a team they sponsor is acceptable?”

The Mid Ulster representative said he has also written to other companies who sponsor the team.

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He continued: "Republican terrorists were responsible for 60% of the deaths during the Troubles. People of all ages, genders and faiths were targeted and murdered in the cruellest manner.

Mid Ulster DUP MLA Keith Buchanan.Mid Ulster DUP MLA Keith Buchanan.
Mid Ulster DUP MLA Keith Buchanan.

"The IRA was a brutal, cruel and illegal terrorist organisation. For any team or sporting organization to be, singing such a song is quite outrageous and utterly insensitive to IRA victims.

"Make no mistake, any glorification of terrorism from any quarter or the glorification and celebration of the brutal, bloody and sectarian campaign of the IRA and its members is not something that should ever be celebrated, honoured or made light of.

"Anyone who supports a party like Sinn Fein, who support this ideology, should consider and imagine how they would feel if their family members had been killed or injured.

"Those who think there was no alternative to the IRA campaign need to think again, there was never a justification for violence.”